Hearts With Hidden Messages

Here in Colorado, it has been snow, snow, and more snow!  

With a high of a mere 8 degrees, we decided to call it a snow day today and stay indoors!  But the question is:  How do you keep a toddler entertained inside all day long?!  Especially when we get stir-crazy easily.  I opted to bring out the big guns and attempt an art project.  Not just any art project--a paint project!  I had just mopped our kitchen floor, so I felt like this was particularly risky.  I decided to try out this "hidden messages" art project that I did with my first grade students each year. 

These hidden message valentines are tons of fun to make!  Kids love to paint the hearts to find the secret messages!

I printed out some simple heart templates onto cardstock.  (Although I think that regular old paper works even better, as I learned later on.)  Using a white crayon, I wrote some messages in the hearts.  You definitely need to press as hard as you can.  This is why using regular paper works better; the cardstock I used was probably too thick.  

I used to write my students' names in the hearts, but you could turn them into conversation hearts.  Or you could even just write letters and practice letter recognition.  But I like to do the writing part in secret so finding the message is a big surprise!

Next, using water colors (thicker paints won't work) simply paint over the hearts.  Little Man needed a bit of help, but the fact that his paint hit the paper was a triumph!

As you paint over the hearts, the hidden messages will slowly appear.  Kids really get excited as they see these messages appear!

We decided that this would be a fun valentine to make for Dad!  We painted the entire heart, and then cut it out and mounted it on cardstock.

Daddy will have a fun surprise when he comes home!

 This project was simple, sweet, and cheap.  Perfect for a kids' project!  

Have a happy day!